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Stanley Myers

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Stanley Myers was an English composer and conductor who wrote music for more than sixty films and television series. He was born in Birmingham in 1930 and studied at Oxford. In the early 1950s he worked as a songwriter and record producer, and in 1958 he first became involved in film music. In 1964 he wrote music for a Doctor Who serial, and he composed the theme for the BBC programme Question Time. He liked working with directors such as Nicolas Roeg, Jerzy Skolimowski and Volker Schlöndorff.

Music and breakthrough

His best-known piece is Cavatina, a wistful guitar piece from 1970, written for the film The Walking Stick. The guitarist John Williams played it in the version that became the main theme of The Deer Hunter in 1978. For that piece Myers received an Ivor Novello Award. There is also a version with lyrics: Cleo Laine and Iris Williams sang it as He Was Beautiful. In 1966 he had the group Romeo Z record the title song for the film Kaleidoscope, and the Pink Floyd song Corporal Clegg from 1968 features brass players from his orchestra. He also composed for the horror films of Pete Walker.

Influence

In the 1980s he often worked with the director Stephen Frears. His music for Prick Up Your Ears won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987, and for The Witches he won another Ivor Novello Award in 1991. He was one of the first people to work with Hans Zimmer and introduced him to the trade. Myers died of cancer in London in 1993.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Cavatina in the version by John Williams. Notice the slow melody on the guitar and how the accompaniment stays simple, so that the piece sounds almost like a song.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists